Managing the health and safety of employees requires consistent attention, which can sometimes be overwhelming for employers. Without adequate training, inspections, preventative policies and culture changes, accidents and injuries are inevitable. An HR services company like a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) can help simplify the safety burden. Here are three ways HR Services companies help keep employees safe, and save money at the same time. 
1. HR Services Include Access to Risk Management Professionals
When you outsource human resources to a PEO, you gain access to a safety staff that evaluates hazards, helps create safety programs and monitors safety precautions and training. The PEO helps employers comply with workplace safety and health standards set forth by The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and other federal, state and local agencies.
OSHA encourages businesses of all sizes to adopt an injury and illness prevention program to better educate and keep employees safe. In addition, employers are required to:
- Comply with standards, rules and regulations issued under the OSH Act
- Provide employees with working conditions free of known dangers
- Ensure employees have safe, working equipment
- Use color codes, posters, labels or signs to warn employees of potential hazards
- Establish and regularly update operating procedures and communicate them
- Provide safety training in a language and vocabulary workers can understand
When an accident happens on the job, employers must keep records of work-related injuries and illnesses, and report any in-patient hospitalization, amputation or eye loss within 24 hours. Employers must report all work-related fatalities within eight hours.
Knowing how workers are hurt can go a long way toward keeping them safe. OSHA recently announced the Top 10 most frequently cited workplace safety violations so far in 2018.
- Fall Protection (7,270)
- Hazard Communication (4,552)
- Scaffolding (3,336)
- Respiratory Protection (3,118)
- Lockout/Tagout (2,944)
- Ladders (2,812)
- Powered Industrial Trucks (2,294)
- Fall Protection - Training Requirements (1,982)
- Machine Guarding (1,972)
- Eye and Face Protection (1,536)
2. HR Services Include Access to Affordable Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Risk management supports workers’ compensation by reducing the occasion for accidents and injuries among employees. Workers’ compensation is available in all 50 states. Texas is the only state that doesn’t require it, but many business owners there carry it anyway because of its benefits to both employers and employees. Workers’ compensation requirements vary by state but have the same general guidelines.
In Florida, for example, employers with four or more employees (one or more in the construction industry) must obtain workers’ compensation insurance for their employees (there are different requirements for farmers). This insurance covers the medical expenses, lost wages and rehabilitation services resulting from a workplace injury or illness. Promoting a safety culture in the workplace will help reduce accidents and premiums.
Employers who partner with PEOs typically see significant savings on workers’ compensation premiums because PEOs are positioned to negotiate group discounts. Many insurance carriers require payment upfront, but PEOs allow many clients to pay for their policies throughout the year, as part of the payroll process.
HR Services Benefits to Employers:
- Support to mitigate risk and liability
- Assistance managing safety
- Ability to pay-as-you-go
- Reduced cost of medical services and prescriptions
- Assistance returning employees to work
3. HR Services Include Managing Workers’ Compensation Claims
Managing claims can complicate things for individual employers and employees, but when you utilize a PEO for HR services, the workers’ compensation claims process because much more efficient because of the following:
- Multiple, convenient options for reporting claims
- Efficient claims processing and in compliance with state rules and regulations
- Resources and expertise to control claims costs and expenses
Some of the resources to control claim costs include the following:
- A Nationwide network of medical providers adheres to strict credentialing and guidelines designed to treat and return injured workers to productive employment. The provider network saves policyholders money by administering services at negotiated rates.
- A Managed Pharmacy Program with a convenient prescription card system makes filling prescriptions fast and easy for injured workers. The program helps curb rising prescription costs for workers’ compensation claims.
- Return to Work Programs get workers back into a modified role, which is the best way to reduce workers’ compensation claims costs while giving the injured worker time to heal.
To speak with an HR professional regarding the HR support services offered at FrankCrum, call 1-800-277-1620.
